Beginner’s Guide To Affiliate Marketing
4 mins read
Do you have a successful website and want to earn passive income? Or maybe you need to promote your products and sell more? In any case, affiliate marketing is a smart solution for most online businesses.
Affiliate marketing is also popular among dropshipping and POD businesses. Online merch stores from all over the world create an affiliate marketing program to promote their unique t-shirts, hoodies, etc. Think of it like an advertising campaign, only better.
On the other hand, most bloggers and websites already use existing affiliate programs to earn a steady income.
In this blog post, we will take a look at the structure of affiliate marketing and give you the best tips you can follow to monetize this strategy successfully. But first, let us explain what affiliate marketing is exactly.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
In a few words, affiliate marketing is nothing more than a referral program. In this arrangement, a merchant pays a commission to a publisher/affiliate (an individual or a website) when users buy products through a referral link.
The great thing about affiliate programs is that they are based on CPA (cost per acquisition) or CPL (cost per lead). But what are your options and how exactly is this system set up? Let’s find out.
Affiliate Marketing Structure
Affiliate marketing is quite simple in structure. To be specific, if you have a print-on-demand business, you have two choices:
- Create an affiliate program to promote your products: When someone decides to join your program (influencers, websites, etc.), they become your advertiser. Then, when a user buys one of your products through that link, you have to pay a commission to that advertiser.
- Join a third-party affiliate program: In this case, you are the one who gets paid. If your website or social media account has a large audience, you can lead them to your affiliates through a referral link.
If you choose to participate in an affiliate program, you can promote products and services via emails, social media accounts, and website links. Most affiliate programs allow you to use the same link for all platforms like Youtube, Instagram, etc.
How Can I Find Affiliate Programs?
There are numerous affiliate marketing platforms that match advertisers with affiliates. All you have to do is visit their websites and decide which one is best for your business. The most popular affiliate networks on the market are:
Many of the major online marketplaces like Amazon and Ebay have their own affiliate programs. But how can you decide which is the best affiliate program to join? There are many parameters that you need to take into account.
Which Affiliate Program Should I Join?
No matter if you have a small blog or a huge website with millions of visitors, affiliate marketing is a smart way to make money.
Of course, not all affiliate networks have the same eligibility requirements. But generally speaking, you should always take a look at a few important things before signing up:
- How often the network pays affiliates (weekly, monthly, per purchase, etc)
- Commission percentage (the amount you get paid per sale)
- Payment methods (PayPal, bank transfer, wire, etc)
- Minimum threshold payment (the amount you need to reach before you get paid)
- Location of the affiliate network/ advertisers
- Recurring commissions
How to Market Your Affiliate Program?
What if you do not want to join an affiliate network as a publisher? Well, you have nothing to worry about. If you want to promote your products or services through an affiliate program, you can either create one or join a network as an advertiser.
Affiliate marketing, for example, is a very popular advertising strategy for online POD businesses during certain time periods. Think about it. If you only want to promote your products during the holiday season or on special days like Black Friday, there is nothing better than affiliate marketing.
With this approach, you only pay when your advertisers successfully promote your products. To ensure that your affiliate program is successful, you should:
- Offer appealing commissions
- Reach influencers and invite them to test your products
- Organize your program and offer a straightforward structure (terms, commissions, payments, etc.)
- Create marketing graphics (banners, videos, etc.) for your advertisers to use
- Promote your affiliate program on your website
Affiliate Marketing: Do’s and Don’ts
On the other hand, there are also things that you should take care of when promoting another company’s products. For this reason, we have created a detailed table of all the things you should and should not do when joining an affiliate program:
| Do’s | Don’ts |
| Always test/review the product you are promoting | Try not to spam (irrelevant affiliate links, etc, annoying ads, etc) |
| Always add a disclosure and a privacy policy (mentioning that you’re using affiliate links) | Follow the terms and conditions of the affiliate network you are working with |
| Create quality content to frame your affiliate links | Don’t focus only on profits (quality is more important, patience is key) |
| Keep your affiliate links relevant to your target audience | Don’t be sloppy with your affiliate promotions (try to educate and motivate your audience |
| Add more than one link to each promotional blog post |
Wrap Up
In summary, we can safely say that affiliate marketing is one of the most effective methods for both advertisers and publishers. As with other strategies, such as email marketing, affiliates can help you generate new leads and improve your conversion rates.
Although a successful business does not depend solely on advertising, affiliates prove to be both time and cost-effective. It is also very important that this strategy can be adapted to advertising through websites, social media platforms, emails, and more.
If you take the tips in this beginner’s guide to heart, you’ll be one step closer to success. Whether you want to start promoting your products or earn passive income, affiliate marketing is for you. All you have to do is give it a try.
FAQs About Affiliate Marketing
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is like a referral program. A merchant pays a commission to a publisher/affiliate (an individual or a website) when users buy products through a referral link.
How Can I Find Affiliate Programs?
There are numerous affiliate marketing platforms that match advertisers with affiliates. All you have to do is visit their websites and decide which one is best for your business. The most popular affiliate networks on the market are:
Amazon associates
ShareASale
Ebay Partner Network
Overstock
Refersion
Rewardful
Canva
How to Market Your Affiliate Program?
If you want to promote your products or services through an affiliate program, you can either create one or join a network as an advertiser.
This blog contains some affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you use these links to buy something (at no added cost to you).
